Wall St. West misses July groundbreaking

The Wall Street West project is alive and well, says the group's chief operating officer, even if the first corporate tenant has yet to commit to placing backup offices in Smithfield Township.

DAVID PIERCE

The Wall Street West project is alive and well, says the group's chief operating officer, even if the first corporate tenant has yet to commit to placing backup offices in Smithfield Township.

Local developer Larry Simon, who launched the effort to recruit Wall Street firms to locate backup offices in Monroe County, once vowed to announce the first corporate client by July, when he expected groundbreaking for the first Wall Street West office building in Smithfield Township.

That deadline has come and gone without a formal announcement or turning of dirt. But Simon's COO, Donald DePete of the newly formed Synchrium Group, says "more than a dozen" large Manhattan firms have expressed keen interest in locating offices in Monroe County. But it's a long, complicated process, he adds.

"We're trying to customize the process for them," DePete said. "The reason why they're listening to us is we do have a solution for them that's compelling. It takes awhile to get that decision made because it is such a massive move."

The problem is how to protect large volumes of corporate data stored by financial companies in the event of a another devastating terrorist attack in New York. The federal government is strongly encouraging corporations there to have backup sites to protect those assets.

The state has committed $30 million in grants and loans to help make the Wall Street West project a reality.

This is where DePete comes in. He was hired by Simon in April to coordinate recruitment of Wall Street firms to the Poconos and construction of office buildings those firms will use. The former senior executive with an Atlanta information technology corporation says he knows the players.

"I have Wall Street experience," DePete said. "I did work for many of them in a consulting capacity in the technology arena."

DePete says the Poconos are uniquely qualified to meet the need for backup offices, compared to more traditional locations like Connecticut or New Jersey.

"We have cost advantages," DePete said, noting one criteria set by the federal government is for the firms to put backup offices on a different watershed than that serving Wall Street. "They don't have a separate water table. The prices are higher there. The energy is higher."

Intangible considerations also favor Monroe County, DePete asserts.

"There's a lot of value and they gain the luxury of living around here," DePete said.

He says the county also has 30,000 residents who commute daily to jobs in New Jersey and New York, and have varied skills that are attractive to a potential new company.

Even so, the decision by any large Wall Street corporation to move or expand is never easy, DePete said.

Those firms won't announce any plans until every aspect of the move has been determined, from the mission and infrastructure needs, to which employees will relocate to the Poconos.

"The sales process of having so many entities involved," said DePete. "Their calendar and time frame is different from ours. I's have to be dotted and all the T's have to be crossed.

"To be truthful I would have expected it already. Corporations will spend months deciding what employees will move."

Simon's earlier assessment that the first firm will create 5,000 jobs here is realistic, DePete added.

"When the entire Penn Regional Business Center is done it should be many more jobs than that," DePete added.

The Synchrium Group is interviewing large brokerage houses — leasing agents that will help recruit "large national footprint firms" to move here. DePete also is in direct communication with some corporate executives.

"I'd love to give you a projection," DePete said when asked how soon a company might move here. "I don't have one. I can tell you my experience in the past: It's taken anywhere from six months to 22 months to get something done."

In addition to the initial office building proposed along Route 209 in Smithfield, near Simon's LTS headquarters, five other phases are planned that could result in construction of other facilities in Monroe County.

Construction on the first office building won't commence until the first company commits to locating in Monroe County, so the Synchrium Group can tailor the facility to that company's needs.

Level 3 received state and federal funding this year to bring those lines to East Stroudsburg, then to local office buildings. Another line will extend off the fiber network in Warren County, N.J., and go to Easton.